School administrators Steve Santana of LaPorte, Heather McGowan of Ben Davis and Jamie Lowry of Scottsburg will be recognized with special awards for the 2024-25 academic year from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
The three athletic directors will be honored as 2025 Administrators of the Year from the IBCA. They are being recognized for their support of basketball programs in their school, area and for state-level events. There is one winner from each IHSAA district. Santana is the honoree from District 1. McGowan is cited from District 2. Lowry is the recipient from District 3.
This is the 17th time in the past 18 years that the IBCA has recognized a group of administrators with a set of awards. The awards have been presented since 2008, but the 2020 honorees received their awards in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. No winners were named in 2021. A list of winners from over the years is at the bottom of this announcement.
Santana, McGowan and Lowry will receive their awards individually at a home basketball game during the 2024-25 season. The exact date for each presentation has yet to be determined. For more information about the IBCA, go to in.nhsbca.org.
2025 IBCA Administrators of the Year
District 1
Steve Santana, athletic director, LaPorte
Steve Santana is in his third year as athletic director at LaPorte after serving as assistant athletic director at the school the previous 16 years. He is recognized for his support of Indiana high school basketball throughout his tenure in an administrative role.
Santana is a 1990 graduate of LaPorte, where he played baseball and was part of the Slicers’ 1990 state championship team as a senior. He matriculated to Ball State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 1994. He later earned a master’s degree in education from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2005.
Santana started in education as a teacher at Warsaw High School from 1995-1998, where he also served as an assistant baseball coach. He taught at Lowell High School in 1998-99, then returned to his alma mater in the fall of 1999. At LaPorte, he was an assistant baseball coach from 2000 to 2014 and became the assistant athletic director in 2006.
While a baseball coach, he was on staff when LaPorte won the Class 4A state championship.
He has been active within the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. For the IIAAA, he served on a strategic planning committee in 2014, was a junior director from 2015-17, was a District 1 director from 2017-19 and was a Section 1 director in 2019-20. He also was on an IIAAA-IHSAA Advisory Committee from 2016-19, and he has been the IIAAA District 1 membership chairman since 2022.
Santana and his wife, Missy, are parents to two adult daughters – Natalie and Gillian.
District 2
Heather McGowan, athletic director, Ben Davis
Heather McGowan is in her third year as athletic director at Ben Davis after serving as assistant athletic director at the school the previous seven years. She is recognized for her support of Indiana high school basketball throughout her tenure in an administrative role.
McGowan has been on staff at Ben Davis since 1995, working as a teacher and certified athletic trainer for 16 years. She served as the school’s Dean of Students from 2011-15 before becoming the assistant athletic director in 2015.
A 1989 graduate of Mound Westonka High School in Minnestrista, Minn., the former Heather Dorfner competed in volleyball, basketball and softball for the Mohawks. She then attend South Dakota State University, where she played softball, was selected an All-America Scholar-Athlete by the National Softball Coaches Association and earned bachelor’s degrees in 1994 in health, physical education, recreation, dance, education and athletic training. She later earned a master’s degree in education administration from Butler University in 2006.
While at Ben Davis, she was named a “Top 30” honoree in 1999 and again in 2000. That is a recognition awarded to a teacher from the top 30 students academically from a given year’s graduating class. She also has been on the support staff for seven basketball state champions (boys in 1996, 2017 and 2023; girls in 2000, 2001, 2009 and 2010), two basketball state runners-up (boys in 2019 and 2024), six football state champions (1999, 2001, 2002, 2014, 2017 and 2023), one football state runner-up (1996) and three track state champions (boys in 2008, 2009 and 2010).
McGowan and her husband, Ron, are parents to two adult children – daughter, Korbyn, and son, Braden.
District 3
Jamie Lowry, athletic director, Scottsburg
Jamie Lowry is in his ninth year as athletic director at Scottsburg after previously working in sales and in the golf industry. He is recognized for his support of Indiana high school basketball throughout his tenure in an administrative role.
A 1988 graduate of Scottsburg, Lowry participated in basketball and cross country for the Warriors. He attended Franklin College and Indiana University Southeast, earning a bachelor’s degree from IUS in 1994.
Lowry started his professional career in sales, with Hoosier Hills Awards in Scottsburg from 1993-98 and then with Larry Dismore & Associates from 1998-2000. He moved to the golf industry as a pro shop consultant at Scottsburg’s Westwood Golf Course from 2000-07, then as served as general manager of the facility from 2007-16 prior to joining the athletic staff at his alma mater.
He also was a broadcaster for Scottsburg basketball radio from 1998 to 2013 and created a Scottsburg basketball website in 2003 that still is maintained and updated.
Lowry twice has been recognized by Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. He won an IIAAA District V Distinguished Service Award in 2006 for his contributions as a broadcaster and to the Scottsburg basketball website. He later was cited as the IIAAA District V Athletic Administrator of the Year in 2022.
Lowry and his wife, Jennifer, have two children – daughter, Reese, 16, and son, Andrew, 11.
